Greg Jackson, the founder and chief executive of Octopus Energy, has suggested that some households would accept occasional electricity blackouts if it meant much lower energy bills. Speaking at an industry conference, he argued against costly investments in the UK's power grid that are driving up household bills.
Jackson referenced the Iberian blackout that affected tens of millions in Spain and Portugal a year ago, noting that many Spanish consumers might accept "the odd blackout" in return for electricity costs that are 25% lower. He clarified that he was not advocating for blackouts but posed a hypothetical question to illustrate the trade-off.
He added that people would be "far less bothered" about a blackout now than in the past because they could continue using laptops with built-in batteries. He also mentioned that home batteries, sold by Octopus Energy, are now cheap enough for those relying on medical equipment to tolerate outages.
The comments came on the anniversary of the Iberian blackout, which claimed at least six lives, including two people who died when breathing equipment failed. Jackson emphasized that the greater challenge in a renewables-heavy system is controlling network investment costs.
An Octopus Energy spokesperson stated that countries like Spain, which have embraced cheap renewables and flexibility, enjoy lower prices and fewer spikes. The UK, however, risks high costs with billions in grid spending without transparency on necessity.
Fintan Slye, chief executive of the National Energy System Operator, disagreed, saying significant grid investments are still needed to transmit electricity from generation to demand areas, but he ruled out blackouts.
